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Former Mayors of Holland Oral History Interviews

1-1-1984

De Pree, J Bernard Oral History Interview: FormerMayors of HollandHope College

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Recommended CitationRepository citation: Hope College, "De Pree, J Bernard Oral History Interview: Former Mayors of Holland" (1984). Former Mayorsof Holland. Paper 2.http://digitalcommons.hope.edu/holland_mayors/2Published in: 1984 - Former Mayors of Holland (H88-0234) - Hope College Living Heritage Oral History Project, January 1, 1984.Copyright © 1984 Hope College, Holland, MI.

INTRODUCTION

When this pl'oject was fir-st initiated. ther-£' werE! several mayors who had

but their- names on the list of potential interviewees -- whereabouts unk.nown.

With the help of Mr. Bill Wieher-51 to whom I am greatly indebted, these gentlemen

wlH'e found, contacted, and, if possible. interviewed.

MI'. Bernard DePl'ee, one of the "missing" ma.yors, happened to be visiting

his daughter in near-by Or-and Ra.pids and agr-eed to be interviewed. His was the

first inter"view, and he did it off the cuff. I had not had hme to give him an idea of

what questions 1 was going to ask him.

Mr. DePree was the only mayor interviewed who had operated solely under­

the old charter of Holland. He had also lived through World War- It in Holland. The

lntel'vtew paints a. vivid picture of what Holland was lik.e during this time and what

the local government had to endure during the war. It was a Holland totally

different from the Holland of today.

Mr. DePree, through his outstanding service and activism not only on city

council but amorlgst the entire community of Holland, was able to gIve a special

insight into the Holland that ...... as and the Holland that laid the foundations for

future growth.

The other "missing" mayor found by Bill Wichers was Mr. Elmer Scheoers

who I contacted by letter, an intervie ...... being impossible due to the distance

between here and Norwalk.. Ohio. He gr aciously answered the questions which I

sent to hIm. The original response from him is attached to the end of Mr. DePree's

InterView, Mr. Schepers also holding office during approximately the same period.

Name: John Bernard DePree

Birthplace: Sioux Center, Iowa

Birthdate: Januar-y 1e, 1907

EducationElementary and Junior High School: Sioux Center- ElementaryHigh School: Sioux Center High SchoolCollege: Hope College

Professional Exper-iences: Peoples' State Bank, office manager of Holland AnilineDye Company, Holland Color Chemical Company, secretary and treasurer- ofMilwaukee Hospital Associa tion

Father's Name and Occupation: S.B. DePr-ee, medical doctor-

Mother's Name: Elena Hyink DePree

Spouse's Name: Gladys M. Huizinga DePree

Date of Marriage: October 27,1934

Childr-ens' Names and Present Occupations: Judith Lynn Bradshaw, Eugene, OregonPost Office employeei Jean Elena Brace, houseWife in Char-lotte, North CarolinaiJoa.n Lou, elementa.ry teacher in Kentwood District, Gra.nd Rapids, Michigan

Committees and Assignments: Ottawa. County Board of Supervisors, HospihlBOai'd, BOai'd of Review, Ways and Means Committee, Claims and AccountsCommittee, Ottawa. Savings and Loa.n Trustee, Deacon at Thir-d Refor"med Church,Hope College National Committee on Solicitations, Wester-n Semiary Finance andAdministration Committee Treasurer, City Council, Mayor

Affiliatiorls: United Presbyter-ian Chur-ch, American Chemical Assocahon

Present Activities: retired

lNDEX

Arwnds t John S

B.ltman, John 8

BOlrd of Public Works 12,18

Brower, James A 17

Bush &. Lane Piano Comploy 4

Butllr, Bill t 7

Centennial Commission t 1

Chemical Speci.l1ties Concern 6

City Dump 9,te

City Chlrttr 1,2

City Hospital 13

·City of Holland- 5

Claims &. Accounts Committee 1e

Chris Cr..ft 1S

DePre" Ed 6

DeVos, Richard 6

F..bial'lo, Char-l'y 8

F..biano, Patsy 8

Fr-ench, Mr- 17

Gr-ah ..m-Mor-ton Docks S

H.. r-r-ington, H.. r-r-y 8

Hitching Post 7

Holland City Ne s 17

Holland Furn..ce Company 3,4,19

Hol erd.. , R..y 9

Krohm..n, Peter .•.•.•••.••••••.•••••••.•••••••••.•••••••••.•••.•••••••8,9

Krutho1, B.tstian 11

L..lte St. Cl .. ir 15

Landwehr, P..ul •..••••••...•.......•.......•.........•....•..••.•.••••••5

L.n" Walt'r 4

Lind,m.n, Marvin 12

Meengs, Bill 8

Meyer, A.H 17

Hulder, Arnold 17

Huld'r, Ben 17

Muld,r, J'nnett' 17

Netherlands Museum 13

Peterson, Oscar 11

Pla.nning Commission 11

Popul ..tion ...................•....•.•••.••.•.••••••••••.•••••.•.••••••.3

Public Sa1ety Committee 18

Ross, Met 15

Sentinel 9,17

Slaght BertH 8

S1:r..nd Theatre 7

TenCate, V'rnon 2

Tysse, John 15

V..nLente, E.trl 5

V.tnZoeren 6

Walsh, W.. lter 6

WAshington Sq..ure e

WlyS &. He..ns Committee 18,19

Wichers, Bill 11

Zuidema, Jllte 11

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Inter-viewel': You wue a councilman fil's-t eIecttd in 1942.

MI'. DI'Pl'u: That's cOl'l'l'd. 1 was -fr'om the Thil'd Waf'd.

Intuviewu: Did they have the same wal'd system they do now~r

MI'. DePI',e: No. Thel'e wue s-ix war-ds and there wue two I'epresentatives fr-om

each war-d. Thl' city cha.r-tu wu changed aHef' 1 leH. In hct J think that 1 hid

something to do with instigating that. Whtn 1 btcame miyor- th. ouUint of the city

wa.s the same as it hid bun in 18Se. Jt went west to wher-l' the old inte,.ur-bin

tl'iCKS nossed at the H.J. Heinl Company on Sixteenth Stf'ut and thl'n went south

I.Cf'on Wl'st Seventeenth to Thif'ty-Second. Thit was the city limits wut. But Just

outside tht limits it WlS ill filled in and the city seI'viced it and thut wu much

compliint ibout that. They didn't pa.r-ticipatl' in tht cosh of the hospital and so

for·th and yet they had the same ser-vice as the people of Holland who wel'e

contl'ibuting the maJol' shue of the SUppOf't, buildirtg, and upkeep of thou

institutions. So thue was much undercovl'r' complaint.

Ther'e was no city manager then eUhfl'. The mayof' ptr'fol'med tht samt

duties. u the pr-esent city managei'. Jt was a par-t time position and a ,.ea.l chol't. In

fact, my employer- then at the Holland Color Chemical Company which was outside

the city always had some complaints about mt doing that. J always got hlephone

caUs thfl't, and ht didn't thinK that WIS quite righti although I don't think he

wanttd to compllin too much becluSf if they wtr-l' in tht county and not in thl' city

it didn't hUl't the plant too much because 1 also ser'vl'd on the Ottawa County Boud

of Super-visoI'5.

Page 2

1 don't r~member just when that voh was taken that changed the city

charter and also provided for a city manage-r. The fact of the mltter WAS i't WAS

after- 1 left. but it got its start then. I remember- Vernon TenClte WlS the city

attor'ney at the time lnd he did considerable work on it. He was the first person in

Holllrid that 1 told thlt I wn luving. 1 WiS still servirl9 a.s mayor', but I hld made

a trip wes't to look over' the situltion, and 1 was pretty sure 'thlt I WlS going to do

i't because it provided for considerable more iflcome. Even though. 1 hltE'd to luvl'

Holh,nd, having lived thE're for' 25 years And l1ways liked it. Butt after all. you

have to think. of your family I too. I just had to do it. He was 'the first onE' who I

told beclUSE' I had put in a lo't of work. with that chartE'r'. I was quite insist.nt tha't

it ought to be donE' becausE' of the demands upon the mayor's time. I fl'l't thlt the

city had ruched a sile that it ought to be served by a cHy manager. And so hE' said

that he'd work. on it if I provided my unqualified suppor't. Arid I slid, ·Yn,. ·1 '11

promisE' that." In vi.w of 'that promisE' when I decided to leave, and he was half

WlY through with itt I thought that it only fair that I tell him fir-st. But it didn't

mak.e any difference because he was so far along that he could just go ahud with

it. ] don't know whethn it pass.d on the first shot or- not. If it did it was very

clos•• I can rem.mber- that.

Interviewer: So besides changing thE' charttr i't also anntx.d some land'"

Mr. DE'Prn: YIS i't did. That was also help.d mort by the schools is thos. things

grew too. Holland was always in a rather unfortunate location in that the limits of

the south sidE' were Thirty-Second Sheet. across that being AllE'gan County. This

led to a conflic't. That is why that had never bun anntxed irlto the city before. But

th. school distl'id ills-o had to expand. So thon two things, the change in the

P...g~ 3

chutn ...nd th. txp...n~ion of tht ~chool di~ttid wttt mainly tnponsiblt for thr

exp...nsion of th, city limib b.yond the botdns that h... d uisihd sinc, 188e.

In1nvitwtt: What w... s tht population of tht city?

Mt. p,Pru: My rtCoUtction wn th ...t tht population of the city-ptopn war. ...bout

18,e60.

Inhrvi,wer: You said you wer-e putting in a lot of time &S m... yo.... How many hours ...

wnk; c... n you estim... te th ...11

Mt. DtPr,,: I c...n b.st uplain th ...t this way: my kids uSId to uy to me, -D...d, Ut

you going to be home tonight?-

And I s<lid, -No.-

-Tomortow?-

About tht only night th ... t I could count on b,ing home w." Sund.y. But othetwin

&lmost ,very night I w.s ti,d up in muting,,; .nd .t othn timn too. Houtwise, J

just don't k.now. It w... s too much for ... persorl who w... s also trying to m... k. .... living

btuun ... 5 ... Jdttm... n th,y paid l58 ... yurt th, m...yor got ll86.

Interviewer: Wh...t w.r~ som~ of the industrits of HoU ...nd ...t tht tim.?

Mr. DtPree: W~U, most of the industry .t th.t time 'Wete homt own~d; 10c.l peopl~.

Likl' HoU ...nd Furnact Comp...nYi l')ler}1,nt company. Th~y h.d a wondtrful p...oduct.

Thty did will. ThlY w.tt h.,. ind iWiY th, biggnt opuation it the timl'. Then

Page -4

th.t. w.t. th. iutnitut. hctoti.s; sam. w.nt out oi busin.s. duting th.

d.ptession. 'Wh.n I 'fitst was hen th. Bush e.. Lan. Piano Company was a biQ

opetation. Th.y mad. a very wondetiul piano that's still a ptimium piano H you can

g.t ihold oi on. ncond hand. Thit's now Baku Futnitut•• That w.nt out duting the

d.pt.ssion. Tht tadio b.came so populat that p.opl. iotgot ibout th, piano iot

iwhil. ther•. Th,y wtt,n't buyinQ th,m anymor-•• And so an opttation as big as

that and th.y couldn't go. That was local interest. Walter Larl' lived in a tathet

expansive hom, on Stab Stttlt. As you apptoach south to the city limih to youI'

ltit thtt.'s a btown btick house which may still b' thet. som.whtt. In the vicinity

oi Tw.nty-Sixth or Tw.nty-Sev.nth. 'W.ll. anyway. that's the Lin. oi th. Bush l

Lant'.

L.t's SUI what tlst was th.t. it that tim.; H.im Compiny ind it's still

hlte; the (St. Louis) Sugat Fadoty. That over the yeats b.Cim. lns and less

active. Thit was out on West Fouttttn1.h. and 1 think the buildings at. still th.t.

<bu1. are sch.dul.d 1.0 b. 1.om down). Thit WiS quit. an operation. J vlsi1..d 1.het. on

occasion and it 1.ook 1.wo wnks 1.0 ge1. 1.h, sm.ll ou1. of youI' cloth.£>. Tha1. pr"oC'f>S

was just like butnt sugat. That was in 1.he dtying patt of i1.. 11. would look almof>1.

like btown f>ugat wh.n it iitf>1. cam. ou1..

Also, what is now Puk.. Davif>. that was a big leath.,.. mak.1ng conettn.

Tha1.'s btln out of busin.ss fot many y.ars. Ptimarily though those wn. the

ptimaty thinQs. Th.r. wtt. other small outfih that would com, and go. Plus a

machine wotks 1.hat became put of Ex-C.llo Cotpotation; 1.hat was a pt. tty growing

conc.tn too. That was out there in the vicinity of the Hartington Docks.

Page 5

That'. whnt th.t steamer th. ·City of Holland· u.ed to come in which made

nightly trip. acros~ the lak.e. Graham-Morton Dock.s I gun~ th.y c.Hl'd them. Tht

·City of HoHand· was both a passengtr and a fnight carrying boat. It was suviced

also by the intl'r-urban, The inter-urban ran, when J got hne, in the bH of 1925,

as i carrier of passengfts until 1927 which end.d when th••uto c.m•• 1 went on it

many many timn to Grand Rapids. The hr. was a8 cenh. Whln J wn playing on

th. Hope bask.etball team, when the roads WHe bad and we wne playing in

Kalamuoo (we uud to play 'Western at that time ind Kalam.loo College), is a team

w.'d go to Qund Rapids and then transfer 1.0 a line th.t r.n through Plainwell,

Otsego, and thou town~. The inter-urban had a track running down Eighth Strnt.

H Cime in about at the Pere Mi.!'qu.11. depot. It would go down into thl' swamp and

down undn the track. and thl'n toward Znland. It ran down Eighth and it made a

turn .t River and then it ran to Thirtnnth .nd mad I' a turn and ran aU the way to

appr'oximattly the St. 1..0uis Sugi.!' Factory. But they had that ~pur going to tht

Graham-Morton Docks bl'cau~e th.y brought in freight ftom Gtand Rapids .nd

shipped it by bo.t to ChicigO. It was an ovetnight trip arid would come back hete

the n,xt day. Th' ·City of HoU.nd" wn a ~idl'whl'tler, a roatating machine that

propelll'd th. boat on each side. Mississippi bo.ts wefe in the back..

Th, son of thl' President of tht Furnace Company, Paul l..andwthf, .nd thr..

othn people, his cousin, something likt 14 yeus old, Eatl V.n l..ent••nd John

Attnds, who was tmploYl'd by the Furnact Company wete fiding in Paul's spudboat

who was k.ind of a dutdl'Vil. In ordlr to bt playful he would tun that speedboat

towud tht ·Clty of HoH.nd· and sw,rv' off. But anI' timt hI' got too dost and

went tight into th. side of the biljJ boat .nd kill.d all of them. 1 was writing as a

part time duty at that time for the Gr.nd R.pids Prest, .nd 1 know 1 spent a

Pi:ge 6

miser-i:ble nigh1:. I didn't kr.ow abou1: this inciden1: i:1: 1:he Ume, i:nd the GI'i:nd

Ri:pids Pl'ess was 1:tying 1:0 ge1: ahold of me and go 1:0 wor-k on tha1: 1:hing because as

you can image i1: etea1:ed a 101: of exci1:emen1:. 1t happened in tha1: bay 1:her-e wher'('

Con DePree, my father-'s cousin, had buil1: a houn. He was with 1:he compa.ny 1:hat

was one of the big indus1:l'ies a1: 1:he 'time. Tha1:'s wher-e hi5 house was and 1:ha1:'s

the house tha1: the ~ellow wi1:h the Amway Cor-por-ahon, Richud DeVos. had movtd.

It was r-ight in that bay whete1:he accident happened. That was in 1927. I think. 501

tha1:'s the his1:ol'y 04 th&1: boa1: acciden1:.

In1:nviewel': What was 1:he down1:own like dUl'ing this per-iod of time?

MI'. DePl'ee: Thete was when 1 Hrst came in 1925. Of course i1:'5 much impl'ov-ed

now. That whole wes1: side 04 Rivel', hom Eigh1:h 1:0 Ninth, excep1: 401' 1:he building

on 1:ht corner- that's sUll thett; The "..st of tht buildings up to the Brower­

Fur-nitute Company which was 1:otn dowrl (} believe 1:hll'e's a financial ins'ti1:u1:ion

ther-e now) wne all wood, and I believe they're all br-ick now. And the west side a-s

well werl'n't the finest looking buildings. On the cOl'ner acr-oss the s1:r-ut 1:hne

was a two stol'Y buildinlll known as the Wolvel'ine Ga.ragt, and up abovl' it thut

WAS a rtlaUve 04 mint, Ed DePr-E't1 and John Van Zoer-en, the dona1:ol' 04 1:he Van

Zoeren Librar-y. They had s1:ar1:E>d what they call1'd Chemical Special1:ies Concer-n.

La1:l'r on, they built a plant in Zeeland which they later- sold 10 Miles Labortotories.

I think 1:hat wu 1:he basis 401' John Van Zouen <I'm guessing) being able 1:0 mak.t

that llr-ge doni:tion for- the librar-y at Hope College. From tha1: little acotn a big

tree gr-ew. He was in on i1:. I cashed his check. many Urnes and it was small, bu1: he

made out well a.fter 1he company werl1 well. That same thing was pteHy much true

on investmen1s ma.de by othel's in smill. local industries. MI'. Wal1:u Walsh owned

Pag~ 7

numtr'ous prop...ii.s on Eighih Sirui l bui oih.r local p.opl. owrwd prop...iy or

siruciur~s which chang.d ownnship as Hm~ wtni on, and n.w buildinQ5 wn'

tr.cied.

Peoples' Shit Bank. Wi.S across ih~ ~irni where ih.r. now is A5mokt shop.

As you go easi fl"om ihai appl"oximatt locAtion from ihe norih 5id. of ih. shut

ihi.t's pteHy w.ll filhd in nOWi All th. way io ihe cotnn of Coll.g. AnywAy.

B.for·e ihn. wu. op.n spacts in thut. Thut WAS Also An optn SPUt And A

thuit. jusi w.si of First of Amer-icA. Thut was i. Sirand Thuir. thu. which w.

would go io Saturday aHtrnoon to sn ih. cowboy shows and whi.inot. Thtr. was

also a vacani lot ih.... and thlr,'" now whit Appeat5 to b. i. vuant lot, bui ii's

goi i. btick. inshllation Ui's a a patkinQ lot). Hhai is iht Mod.l DruQ has chi.ng.d a

lot. WtU. HoUand just g.ntraUy hl.s chlngtd quiie I. bit. Tht Hitching Posi wu·

just lik....n inttt-urbl.n Cat.

Thtt. hi.v, beerl chi.ng.s in ih. chur·ch.s of cours•• 1 think. ,"orne of it

thr·ough Hr·.s. Th, Mtthodist Chul"ch is A bl"l.nd new building. And Hope Chutch hu

t,novltld I. lot. Thitd Chutch hun't dont t,novAtion i.U ihl.t much "inc. 1 1.Hi

i.lthough som. WAS done, 1 k.now. But wh,n 1 Wi.S siiU utiv. thu, ih.y Wet,

dtudy doing some of ihi.i work. I hav,n't goUen atound .nough in th~ outlying

distrids to notict 11lthi.t much chang., bui thtt. has d.finattly been I. chang••

And whtn I WAS in the council on. of the last things w, Wtf", vtr-y adiv, in;

w. saw ihi" tttnd toward malls and 10 otdtr to pl"otl'ct downtown busin.ss our

gtOUp was th. on. ihl.t l.d io this buying of aU th.s. lots bACk of the stOrtS on

Eighth so w. could provide puking. Our idu first of aU WI.S that wt could financt

it with puk.ing metet" becau5e puking became a r'eal ptemium. We had angl~

PAg~ 8

p....king and th~n we had p....all~l p....king b~cAun that was th. usi••t for traffic

flow, but it cut down on th. parking spun. And that wa~ a tr.nd which would lu.d

to ma.lls.

W. had I. littl, inkling of that buaus. alrudy th.r. WA~ A mini-ty~ mAll

built on Eightnnth And WAshington. You p,opl~ acc,pt that beCl.U~' it's th,r., but

it wun't th,r. wh'n I w&~ first in Holland. J think th, Fabianos, Ch....l~y and

Pahy, who hAd r,~tu""'Anbi Ch....J.y on Rivff' just south of that cornff' b.twttn

Eighth and Ninth on th, w,st sid' and Patsy on th. south sid. of Eighth. I wu

walk.ing along th,r, tht othtr day And th,rt's bttn chang's in thos' fronts but th,

"i&no" still shows on th, til,. That's from Fabiano. P&tsy had a plA" there. Th,y

had a bIg family b.c&uS! that was th'ir ucr,t in thou days; thou Halian

familits they'd hAve big families I.nd their kids would All work on th.

,~tablishmtnt for nut to nothing, and that all w'nt into the family fortune. So it

was 'ui.,. for them to build up I. gnat busin,ss with that kind of dul. Th,y had a

fin' plact. Th,y had som, monty. Th,y w,r, the on,s that bought up that prop,rty

and shrt'd up Wnhington Squue. That was built about lat, 192h.• tarly 1930s.

Th"" weren't the malls y,t but we could sn the tfndency and want,d to prottCt

the downtown ..,.ea. So th, only way w. thought to do it was to buy th05~

ptop,rtits. And w. install.d parkino m.tus. Parking mtt,rs would h,lp th. city

get its money buk from its inv,stm,nt and h,lp with th, upkttp of th~ proptrty.

Oth,r than Dyk.strl's Fun,rAI Hom' lnd a few oth,rs we bought up the pll.Cts.

Bill Mungs was on the public saf.ty commission. He used to run a gas sation on

5ixtnnth and Riv.r, that Standard Stl.tion. Bill was a good councilmAnj as wu,

John B,ltml.n, Hury Hurington, 1'1, succud,d m, AI mayor, Bertil 51agh, p,ttr

Interviewer: How m"ny councilm.mbers were thne'?

Mr. DePrtt: Two irom nch w"rd; 12 plus the m"yor. The m"yor had no vote ncept

in c"u oi tiei something lik.e the viet-president in the Sen"te. I w". called upon

once or twice to cut" vote.

Interview,r: You attended and ran th. council meetings'? How oiten were they'?

Mr. DePr,,: Yn I ran them. J don't think we had study sessions but w. had special

sessions wh.n m"tt.n oi importAnce would come up. J k.now that when 1 'first w"s

on Council they didn't "lw.ay!> bother "bout 5eeing th.at everybody knew .about the

meetings. And th. S.ntin.l stut.d to raise & iuss. .about th&t bee&uu they c.aned

thon seer.t mutings. And 1 think th&t wh.ther thtr. &!re"dy wn & st&te lAw

.about th.at or they were enacting such & law th.at you couldn't have secret

meetings, they thought th.at they were entitled to be at the meetings.. So .aiter that

we wne sure th.at they knew about them. J think we met twice a month .always on

Wednesday night. Sometimes those s..sions would l"st & long time &nd sometimes

they wer. r&ther short. The rn&yor usuaUy c&Ued ,,11 the splCi.al muhngs. But Wl'

had them in the aiternoon. And whn such hurings. .as the Corps o'f Engineers in

connection with the dr.dging oi thl' l.ak. would come up. the mayor would alW&ys

have to take ch&rg. oi those meeting5. J remembn one o'f thl Hrst th1ngs J hold to

do w.as go to a 5eries oi meetings in connection with thon dredging oi the l"k.; &11

the w.ay irom the (h.annl'l to HoU.and.

Actu&lly thl city dump us.d to bl on the (oen.ro oi Eighth lind Pine lrld ran to

Sev.nth. That who)l' low uea thl're w&S the city dump. You can imaginl' thl' rats HI

P.g. ,eihu•. 1 c.n r.m.mbu b.ing down'town .Her ih. iniu-urb.n 'trlcks w,r. dug up and

suing ih, rais run acron 'the s'tr'lIi. Thai wu• .a sevin probl.m. Thai was onl

ruson why ihey abandoned ihai as a dumping ground. 11: WlS 'too close io iown.

Inirrvi,w,r: Wue ihe courlcilmen elecied iusi from 'their ward?

Mr. DePr,,: Yes. Th. mlyor WlS ,l,ci,d by ihe whole diy. li lar-gt. And so wn

ihe ireasurer. ihe audiior. and ihe ass.sor. Those wett all tlecied posiiions.

In1:ervi,wrr: HilS ihere more responsibiliiy ..... councilm.mber io do quU. a bii of

ih. work b.Clun ih.r, w.sn'i a ciiy manager?

Mr. DePree: Oh yes. Pr'imuily ihe Hn"l decisions and quick decisions .all depended

on ihe mayor. Su't you had ihe mlYor bring r.sponsible for 'the appoinimeni of .all

'th, m.mbns of 'th,n vuious commiUus: WolyS &. Muns. Cldms &. Accounts. Public

Saftiy. ,ic. 11: stlms 'to m, 'th .. i ihne Wit, .. bou't " half doan commiHels.

Aciually ih, men would be very anxious 'to b, on ihos, commiH"s b,c&us,

someHm,. ih"i's wh.r, 'th, maior work was done. beC&uf>t 'the acHons of ih.

council dlp.nd,d upon wha't 'th.se commiHen w.re able io Hnd oui wUh th.ir

individual starchings on ii. And th,y couldn't iusi arbitrArily put into .H.ct what

th,y deem,d best. That had to be council i.Ction. There was quite a bit of war-It

depending on which of thos' commUte". you wne on. Th. W.ays 8. Means. for

instlnc', w'r' responsible for thr adoption of the budg,i along with th, mayor. H,

always strv,d on all thou commiUus. Then ihe Claims 8. Accounts. 'tho51' work,d

oui of th. city clerk. oHic,. anoth,r office tha't was el,ct,d.

Pi.ge 1i

When I was in there ther, was i. 'fellow by the ni.m, of Osc ..... Peterson who

was the city clerk. Those 'fellows did their duties clnr beyond the call of duty.

Jake Zuidemo\ the city engineeri if it wouldn't have be,m for 'fellows lik~ thi.t; how

they got along without a city manager' all those yurs was more than 1 could figure.

And that Wi.S one of the rusons why I just felt there had to be i. change in the city

chatter.

Inter'vi,wer: These other elected positions besides the council and the mayor. were

they full time?

Mr. DePree: All 'full time. The hct of the matter is, thi.t I don't think that the city

engineer, JakE' Zuidema. was elE'cted. He held oHice at the pleasure of council. J'm

not sure or. that. But you're never goir.g to get r·id of a mar. like thi.t who did so

well.

Intervi,wer: Was there a planning commission?

Mr. DePr'ee: J believe that was started when 1 was orl the council. Because Nul

VanderME'ulen was one of the orignal member's of that planning commission. I know

in cor.nE'ction with the 1eeth anniversary, the centennial commission. 1945-48.

maybe in the planning of the centennial cE'lebration that Holland hadi lee years

after its founding. Bill Wich,rs was ver-y active on that too. He was on that

pI Inning comiiSiion. That was i. pr,tty good shed on,. Bastiln Kruthof who WAS I

minister. was It thlt time ministtr of First Church and h.tu at th, coll,g, or

seminar·y. well he was on that commission. Grand Rapids cooperated with us very

w,ll. Part of our celebri.tion entailed coming to Grand Rapids wher, an

uN.ng,ment was made to hav' KLM land a big plane with some immigrants.

P..ge 12

iUustr..ting th~ diH.,,~nc~ in th. urivl.1 o'f th. Dutchm'n to this pilrt o'f H,st."n

Michig..n in t~~8 u comp..r.d to th. WilY th,y 'formnly um' by 'Uiling v,n,l 'from

Ntw York. through vuiout. r-ivtf's ..nd wh...tnot to get here. So th ..t wu quite ..n

ev,nt. J b,li,v, th .. t wu ..bout th, tim' th, pl ...nning comminion c... m, in. Muvin

Lind,m..n 'II .......noth,r v.. lu..ble m,mbn.

Also J thirlk .. t th ... t tim, they .tl.rttd this ide.. th<lt you could contribute,

luve monty in your wiu 'for tht city. ] k.now th ... t tht hospihl W&S built originl.11y

with reserv, 'funds; the BPH h... d se~ o'f itt. profitt. go to th, city. And

incrusingly, OVtr tht yurt., thou mtn who Sfrv,d on thilt utility didn't like thit.

Th.y had to txpand too. Originally th~lr m...lO g,n,ration pl ...nt 'II"'. on Sixth Str"t

wh,r, th, coll,g~ u5td to p)&y 'footb&H b,'for, th,y w,nt to Sixtunth Strut.

Thne Wi.S <l big plant with a grut big chimn,y. That w.. t. th,ir 'first plant. H,ll

th,n they h..d to h..ve this under-tilk.ing to lOcrus, their output so they moved OVtr

to the lak,shor,. Th ... t was done whit' J was hue. And Jo, Gurds W<lS th,

chairman o'f th, boud. And he ind th, council got into I. lot of ugum,nts ..bout

that 5e,. sh..r, btciUse he said th,y needed it 'for their txpl.rlsion o'f th'ir plant

and we t.&id w, nttded it 'for th, tup...yff'S o'f Hol1&nd. Th.. t Wi.S th, agreem,nt.

That's how they had th,ir li"n" to op,r&t, <lnd we didn't tu them. It was only

hir to g,t that. But th,r, were som, &wful rububs ..bout it. Thtr' Wff" 'f,llow.

lik' th..t; public spirit,d m,n who d,vottd iln &w'fullot o'f th,ir tim' to the w,Hu,

o'f the city and didn't g,t p"id 'for it.

Page 13

They developed ihai whole south end inio an industr'ial par-k aHer I le41:. I

used to hunt there wiih my dog. That was a good hunting spue; a good place io run

your dog.

Inierviewer: Was ihe hospiial city run"!

Mr. p,Pree: Yn ii was. It wu buili, ihe original hospiial WAS built wiih iunds

irom ihe BPW. Then iis hrsi expansion, thai was one oi ihe side evenis ihat

really led io the ch,mge in the chariel' because here we had io expand ihe capaciiy

04 ihe hospihl. The Ursi hospiial, when] Hrsi got io Holland, wu located whete

the Neiherlands Museum is. Thai was the hospiial and ihen they had ihai annex in

the back. ] think ihat served as emergency. Well, J believe ihat new hospiial was

buili in 1929, and in the 1946's ii was necessary io expand because the area around

Holland had grown so much ..nd had io be served. They paid the same r'ate as ihe

ciiizens oi Holland. And that was the exieni 04 their' coniribution to the hospital

but with ihe taxpayers we would always appropriate a certain sum 40r ihe

operaiion oi the hospital. That was spread on ihe turolls. So thne was a lot 04

ieeling thai ii just wasn'i right. They should be pari 04 ii ioo, H ii wu necessary

io expand. well it had io expand. I think I was on ih£' council ai ihai time. J know

Oscar Peterson said io me,"We have some r"eser"ve iunds io help pay ior ii." ] said

lei's get it done. Thai hrsi expansion was out 04 ihose 4unds; indirecily irom ihe

4unds thai were ihere primarily because 04 ihe ciiy's erltiilement to 56r.. 04 ihe

proHts oi ihe BPW. Tha1 ulHmately l£'d io ihe changing oi ihe ciiy's limiis. It was

always ciiy run.

1 remember we also had a problem with garbage collecHon. Is 1hat city run"!

Page 14

Intuviewu: No, but well'e looking at asking 40r' bids to do it on i city wide ba.si~.

MI'. DePl'u: That could be bad. Some 04 those guys make oH like bandits on that.

When I fil'st lived in Suttle we wer-e in th. county at that time. Our- gar-bag. cost

us a $L1S a month unlimited. It did nit make any diHerence how marlY cans you had.

Even then they didn't like anyone to burn theil' junk, especially their- shr-ubs.

Anyway, it got less and less and less and the pr-ice kep't going up and up and up.

Now, 40r- one can and one bag, 11 m char-ged $8.'9S a month. 14 I g.t two cans and two

bagsl then it jumps to $12 a month. It's out on bids. They come ir-ound only once a

week. And they come r-igh't dowrt our- alley. That's another- thing we used to fuss

&r'ound with in Holland. Most of the alleys wer-e betwun Ninthenth and

Eightffnth. It was always close, close close clost. J don't know why. Maybe its

because they wue junky. People wel'en't ver-y car-eful. And that would encour-age

r-ats. So maybe that's the r-uson. I always kind of fought to keep those open. I

always hated to close str-eets too. We had an aw4ul 4u~s thut with that Chr-istiarl

School when they want.d to close that street. But now ir-tn't they going to mike a

Senior- Citians Center ther-e?

Interviewer: Yes they ue. Whit eHect did Wor-ld War- J1 have on Holland?

Mr. p,Pru: There wue air r<lid drills. They had those committees; furnished with

gasma.sks arid hardhats l and per-iodically we would have a drill and ever'ybody would

have to be oH the str-eets and all the lights in houses had to be doused. And the

member-s of the patrols would go out to Set H there was compliance with that. It

was almost mandatory. But the poeple cooper-a ted ver-y well. J lived on Thirtnnth

Strnt at that time r-ight in the vicinity 04 Centr-al and College, in an old, old house

Page 1S

whue John Ty~u ju~t buHt thon ap&rtm,nts. GIi.dys' hthn had bought that

property.

He w,r, hIking about the war; nDIII, 1 Cln only spuk of how it wn at our

pllnt. We wtrt right accr-oss from Chris Craft, Chris Craft wasn't thtr'e l1 fir'st,

bu1 it wn buH1. Th,y built landing barges. They would drag them across shote to

Lak, St. Clair and put th,m in th, wattl'. 1 think they built thrll a day. As far n

our plant wn concerned. w, had h.d 75 p,ople but when labor btcame so scun w,

finaUy got dDllln to where there were only 36. They were .U going off to fight.

Th.t even .ffected our office. So much sOIl h.d to do much of the m.nuil work th.t

ordinuily • man in my position wouldn't han to do. In fact, whtn th, pl.nt burned

J h.d blln thtf't untH 2 o'clock th.t morning work.ing 00 g,t1:ing tht p.yroU out. At

6 o'clock J wn calltd .. t home ..nd my boss, the pr'esident of the comp.ny nidI-You

better get OVfl' htr-e. Our plant's on fire.- So 1 did. 1 often thought, why didn't 1

Sll that firt'? W, had a small night Cf'tW working .nd 1 had to go pa~t that. It wn

theoriad th.t - we h.d • man in there to incruse our capacity to dry ~ and what

he did was incr-un the spud of tht drying machinery. That involved a lot of

pulleys and generators and so forth, and it was theof'iad that that speed up

CJused thost thing. to onr hut and th.t'~ what started tht fif't. But that'~ how

low it wn at our place. And 1 hav, to beU.ve that's how it was It othtr' places.

You could lpply for l huring: if ~omeont w..s extremely Vl.lu&ble .. t your

place, he might be deferred fOf'" ..while. And in some c..se~ that was done; if yOUf'

industry was neces5uy from a defense angle. Now we had a defense because we

m..de a lioc pr,pultion as weU ls a molybdate orlnge prepuation which wa5

painted on lnything mldt of stul AS l rust fightfl'. So thon of our p,oplt who

Pl.ge 16

wer. engl.g.d in that pl.rticul .... op"'l.tion had b.tt", luck. g.tting d.4trred than

others.

It chang,d things, imm.surlbly. You couldn't buy In ,utomobil,; l.1though

OM hl.d som, c....s in r.serve from the lut yur of production, which 1 b.lieve WI.S

1939. I ml.de one trip to Pontiac, Michigan when I was a memeber of the Public

Slfety Commission b,cause we had to g.t two or thr-u mor-. polic. iutomobilu

b'Ciuse our othu5 Wtf'. just filling lplrt. And the only thing w, could get Wlr,

Pontius. Th.y had ,nough stock of thou that we could g,t them. To sav. on

expense, we went ther-e to get them lnd dr-ove them back. Th,y wer.n't the fUt.5t

Clr-S to give chue but at lust w, got them,. Th,y just simply w"'en't makirtC}

automobiles. For six, sev.n yurs just aU d.fenu pr-oductioni tl.nlls, air-plAnse,

p....ts of airph.nes. So that's the WiY that wn.

Thu, wtr, I. lot of people from HoHl.nd that went to the east,rn p....t of

the state to work in defense plants. So fr'om that angle of it HoUind tempor-ar-ily

lost some p,opl,. 1 cu. r-.caH a fellow coming in to the Peoples' 5bte Bartk when 1

was then, and 1 was there until 1943, and he had a. ch,ck. for He ind he was

wor-k.ing in Pontilt. W.ll at that tim. I.n I.vtrl.ge check was ml.yb. ar-ound $25. $36,

ml.ybe as high as $35 for- I. person work.ing in Holland. So 1 said to this fellow,

-Ml.n you've got th, bull by the bill ne!-

And he says,-Tha.t's true, it's quit. I. diff",eme betw"n HotJa.nd .nd

Pontil.C.- But h. nid,-I hl.ve found th ..t ..s fJ.r- of th, cost of living is cortCtrflld

l'm rully no futhtf' .hud b,c.uSl my cost of living thtr' is just th.t much high,r­

too.- I .lw.ys rem.mbtr.d tha.t the ..nswer r-e.lly isn't in how much you'r-e mi.k.ing

but in how much you can buy with what you get!

Pag~ n

Intervi,wer: You had m~ntion,d the Sentinel beior-e. What kind oi eH~ct did th~y

or- any oi the ...adio stations have on council dealings?

Mr'. DePr'ee: Whetner it iniluenced us? Well, 1 don't think r'eally, well the radio

station wasn't here very many years whil~ 1 was still her~. That came in duf'ing

that tim~. And really the only r'ul iniluenc~ editor'ial-wise and so iorth was the

S~ntinel. They controlled that and the City News, which WiS the once a week. paper.

Wh.n 1 got her. th, Stntin,} building was hlli way down th, block b,twnn Eighth

and Seventh st...~~t on Rive ... Avenue. It was a small two sto...y building. That lat~f'

on becam~ th~ News Publishing Comapany. A iellow by the name oi Mulder whos~

daugh1.~f', J'nn,tt" liv,d with M~ta Ross who just died, was th, daughter oi the

iellow who published thl Holland City News. His brother Arnold was an autho....

Bin Mulder was the City N~ws and when he died the Sentinel took it over. By the

time J was on the council, Ben was no longer on. So the only one we had to wor'ry

About, and 1 CAn't say we wor-ri~d much about it, was the Sentinel. Cour'se at thit

timlt thAt wu beior, Bill Butltt got thert. Bill was kind oi i bulldog ilr-ight. H,

WAS the son-in-law oi the iellow that owned the paper, Mr. Fr-ench. And French was

mor'e oi a retisant kind oi person and he got to be pretty old. In hct, 1 can tell

this story now because it's so iunny. He was always not miking iun oil but mak.ing

much oi A.H. Meyer and James A. Brower who were still active in business. Meyer

had the music stof'e and Brower had the iurniture store. And they used to be

pa...tne ...s up ur,til the tu...n oi the century. Well, he would write about them, and

when,ver he did he would mention thei ... ages; "those aged men 93, 94, 9S yea ...s

old"; gosh, French dies in Flo...ida and he was 98, olde ... thin those two! But nobody

eve ... knew it. But that was the way he waSj ve ...y Quiet. So J dor,'t thirlk any council

...ully wON'ied much about the Sentinel until Butle ... became, mOte-or-less, took.

Pa9~ 18

ov,r th, ilCtiv, managtmtnt of it. And h' did npress his opinion~, and around town

would crute littlt di~turbancts about what does council mtan by thIs; anything to

irOUS~ th~ peoplt. 1 know as far as J p~rsonally was concnn,d, 1 n,v,r worried

about that and did what I thought WAS tht thing to do. I'm sur, that wasn't trut

with all of u~. ] had a hllow sitting nut to me from tht third ward who was

always con~tiou5 about that sort oi thirlg. I k.now when w,'d b' appointing

dlHer~nt peopl, to plAyground commission and other lesser jobs he'd say to

mt,·Wt'Vt got to appoint some peoplt repru.nting labor.-

·On the playgound commission'? 1 w.nt th, itllow 1rI th,r. who would do the

good job r',g&tdlns oi what ht is!· But h' prob.bly might h.v. bun influtnctd by

th, pap'r. M.yb. som. of th.m ...... r. inUu,nc.d by it, but 1 n.vft knt..... it.

Intnviewn: Hh.t w.tt just a i ...... oi th. major issues you had to tacltlt'?

Mr. DtPree: anI! of th.m wu, I would consider it m.jor b.cauSl w. ,ven had a

~trik.e which luted ltn tharl 24 hours; whtn labor r.lations wtr'.n't too good.

Charlging the city charter was a major confrontation. This business about buying

property by the city in order to for. stall the building oi malls outsid, the city

thtr,by d.trilCting irom th, ptopl. on Eighth Strut. Trying to prottct our own

p.oplt.

Th.r, w••• w.ter probl.m th.t c.m. up in my early yun. Ht uud to Ott

all of our w.ttr irom w.lls until th.t prov.d to b. inad.qu.t••nd that l.d th.n

finally to th, g.Uing it from L.ak.e Michig.n. Th.t was quite an underb.lting. I was

only indinctJy involv.d in that btcaun it was a BPH operation.

P"ge i9

H, rAn into incru5ing C05tS, w, tri'd to "dopt " con5u..."tiv, budg,t. Wh,r,

w, w,r, tAlking "bout the budg't for the nnt yur, it fotfm$ to m, thAt J "Uend,d

mntings "Imost , ...ery night for- "bout a month. I suppose that was becauSl' I was A

memJb,r of th' W"ys & Muns CommiUtt. It munt what it said: wlyS ..nd mun!> of

rAising monty to poly the bills. So thlt WAS .. probl,m. J know thAt finf.lly l'd to

whrr' th' Holl ..nd Furnue Comp..ny, which w..s the mljor- indu5try, they ftlt th..t

thty wer' being ..buSl'd ..nd paid too much And so th,y nid,-Hill you olCcept if we

p..y for tht cost for- "n ou1.5ide firm to com, in ..nd m"k, Asur...,y of the whol' city

to uurtAin if th' tUtS ue bting properly l, ...i,d?-

And w, nidi-At> long as you pay th, bill. w,'ll t"k, it.- And you know wh"t?

Th, jolt, of it WAS, .. t th .. t time it WIS found tholt w, wtr,n't A5ussing th,m

enough, but th,y were perfectly utisfied ..Her th.. t. J r,m,mbn I was on th.

Board of R, ...iew, And that year I don't btU, ...e w, had .. half doan compl..ints,

whtr-' othrrwise w.'d mnt all day with oot puson AHer ulother would be coming

in. But th,y WI,., utisfied then "fter thAt oubid. p....son CAme in And T'e ...i,w,d.

Nt .. lw&ys hAd things to keep us. bus.y.

I

B 6 THE HOLLAND SENTINEL Th,mdoy, Moy 12, 1988

Obituaries

J. Bernard DePree, 81 AJ. Bernard DePree, 81, of Theological S'tminary.

Seattle, Wash., died Tuesday, In Seattle, DePree became sec·May 10, in Providence Hospital retary-treasurer of the MUwau­in Seattle following an extended kee Railroad Hospitalillness. Association. He was also a mem·

DePree served as a city coun- ber and former elder of the Unl­cilman and mayor of Holland versity Presbyterian Church inprior to his move to Seattle In Seattle.1949. He preceded Harry Har- Surviving are his wife, Gladysfington as mayor. Huizenga DePree; three daugh-

Born in Sioux Center, Iowa; ters, Judith of Springfield, Ore.,DePree came to Holland to at-, Jean of Charlotte, N.C. and Joantend Hope College, graduating in( of Seatue; six grandchIldren and1929. Following hIs graduation he two great-grandchildren.was employed by the People's A memorial service wJlI be~tate Bank where he became held at 1p.m. Monday, May 16, atliead of the loan department. He the Notier-Ver-Lee-Langelandwas later employed at the Hoi- Chapel, 315 E. 16th St., with theland Color and Chemical Co. Revs. Paul and Harold A. Colen­. While a Holland resident, De- bra:~der officiating. Burial willPree was a member of Third Re- be iii-Pilgrim Home Cemetery.formed Church where he servedas deacon and treasurer. He also Memorial contributions mayserved as treasurer of Western be given to Hope College.